The closest and most pertinent prior art known is that which forms the subject matter of Varner U.S. Pat. No. 3,604,037 and Horst et al. U.S. Pat. No. 3,868,738 both of which are now owned by the assignee hereof. The first of these patented lane conditioning machines has proven to be very versatile and eminently satisfactory for performing a variety of necessary operations but is quite expensive due to its complexity. It includes buffers, applicators for applying both lane-dressings and cleaners, dusting mechanisms using moving cloth webs, lane position sensors and sophisticated cam actuated controls for initiating and terminating the various operations at precise positions along the lane. More specifically, the primary functions to be performed by the machine disclosed in the Varner patent were those of dressing the first forty-five feet of the lane with a thin coating of dressing and then stripping all dressing, dust and dirt from the remainder of the lane all the way back to the pin deck on a daily basis. This stripping operation utilized a rotating drum-type applicator to which the cleaner was applied as it turned. Since the amount of dressing on the remote end of the lane is basically only that which is carried there by the ball as it rolls from the dressed section toward the pins it is easily removed with a very small amount of cleaner. For this purpose, the cleaner applicator of the Varner patent proved to be quite satisfactory. However, it can not clean the much greater quantity of dirt and dressing from the dressed portion of the lane. There appeared to be several reasons for this, not the least of which was the inability of the rotating applicator to handle the accumulation of dirt and dressing so as to leave the lane stripped of all foreign matter. The roller itself could not hold enough cleaner to properly remove the dressing from the dressed section of the lane and, as a result, any applicator subassembly for use on this part of the lane would, of necessity, have to be redesigned.
In addition to the rotating cylindrical applicator, the cleaner reservoir and system of nozzles for wetting the applicator proved to be a source of trouble when attempts were made to adapt them to the volume of cleaner needed to strip the dressed section of the lane.
Another analogous, but nonetheless different, problem was that of picking up the suspension consisting of the insoluble particulate matter suspended in the cleaner with the dressing dissolved therein so as to leave the lane clean and ready to be dressed. In the Varner unit, small amounts of cleaner were sprayed onto a pad which rested atop the rotating applicator and transferred the cleaner thereto. Also engaging this applicator was a dust cloth which removed the dust from its surface. While provision was made for unrolling the dust cloth when the area thereof in contact with the applicator got dirty, no fresh dust removal surface was supplied on a continuous basis nor was one needed since the amount of dust picked up by the applicator on the undressed part of the lane was minimal. A continuously changing dust cloth was passed underneath a wiper pad at the opposite end of the unit but it was not intended, nor was it used, to clean cleaner and particulate matter from the wet applicator. The stationary dust cloth in contact with the applicator proved to be unsatisfactory in removing from the rotating applicator the vastly greater amount of cleaner it had to be supplied with in order to clean the dressed section of the lane.
The Horst et al. patent refers to the need for a lane-conditioning machine that is both less complicated and less expensive than the one forming the subject matter of the Varner patent. The latter unit differs materially from the former one in that it includes no provision for stripping dressing from the lanes. Instead, it only applies a dressing thereto, buffs and dusts the lane. Furthermore, none of the subassemblies present in the Horst et al. machine is any more satisfactory than those of the Varner patent for either stripping the dressing from the dressed areas of the lane or removing the residues left following such an operation. The net result as far as the bowling alley proprietor is concerned is that he or she must still manually strip the dressing from the dressed portions of the lane on a periodic basis, usually once a week. The Varner machine is effective on a daily basis to strip the dressing from the undressed sections of the lane and to re-dress the dressed section but not to strip it. The Horst et la. machine, on the other hand, is even more limited since it can only dress the lane and it includes no provision for stripping it whatsoever.
An automatic lane stripper machine disclosed in Ingermann et al. U.S. Pat. No. 4,246,674 was a much needed adjunct to assignee's existing pair of patented conditioning machines referred to previously. It includes the simple, yet unobvious, expedient of replacing the driven roller type applicator with a wettable pad that remains in contact with the lane surface during the excursion of the machine from the foul line to the pin deck. Cleaner is applied directly to this pad in amounts anywhere from about seven to over a hundred times that which the Varner unit is capable of handling using the wiping action by means of which cleaner is transferred from a wiper pad to the surface of the applicator roller. A moving web of absorbent material is used to not only dust the lane as in the previously-described machines but to continuously wipe the absorbent surface of the rotating pick-up roller and remove the solid and liquid residues therefrom before they can be returned to the surface of the lane. The dusting function of the moving web and the buffing function of the residue pick-up roller, while significant, are nonetheless subordinate to their main functions of removing all liquid and solid residues left over following the stripping operation from the surface of the lane since, in each instance, the lane will be re-dressed and buffed with other machinery or by hand before being used.
Other aspects of the Ingermann et al. stripper have to do with the way in which it is supported as it runs to and fro along the lane and its various operations controlled as a function of its location as determined by feelers and means responsive to the main carriage drive. More specifically, the applicator is charged with its supply of cleaner during portions of both its forward and return runs, the latter while it is raised up into its inoperative position thus giving the charge an opportunity to disburse evenly along the pad before becoming operative again. Some of these same feelers sense the position of the unit so as to reverse its direction of movement, deactuate the applicator while re-activating the cleaner supply mechanism in a manner to charge the latter with cleaner and terminate the stripping cycle as the unit returns to the foul line.
Finally, the rotating pick-up roller further removes any remaining debris or liquid cleaner from the bowling lane and the moving web follows along therebehind to provide a final wiping function. Thus, the Ingermann et al. stripper preforms cleaning functions during both the forward and reverse movement of the apparatus along the lane.
Our above-mentioned co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 371,295 discloses an apparatus wherein cleaner is applied to all or a portion of the lane and the cleaner, dressing and other residue is picked up by a vacuum head trailing the cleaner applicator in one trip from the foul line to the pit leaving the lane clean and dry. If desired, the cleaning operation can be limited to the last thirty-six feet or so, since it is generally desirable to clean this portion of the lane more often than the front portion. On the return or reverse movement of the apparatus, no cleaning operations are undertaken but cleaner may be permitted to flow from the cleaner storage tank to the applicator so that the applicator will have sufficient cleaner in it for the beginning of application on the next lane. Means is provided for bowing the vacuum head so that the center is lower than the ends to conform generally to the concave shape of a bowling alley. A waste tank is provided with appropriate baffles to separate the waste liquid and solids from an air stream created by a vacuum motor attached to the outlet of the waste tank.